Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Jon Klassen and Mac Barnett: The Triangle Tour!

On Wednesday, we welcomed Jon Klassen and Mac Barnett to SMS! They read us their stories Extra Yarn, Sam and Dave Dig a Hole, and Triangle. While Mac wrote all of these stories and Jon illustrated them, they have both written many of their own stories! Jon is an author and an illustrator, so he also illustrates the stories he writes in addition to illustrating the stories of many other authors (like Mac!)

In addition to reading us their stories, Mac and Jon also shared with us how they do their job. When writing Extra Yarn, Mac had seen a picture Jon had created of a girl and her dog wearing matching sweaters, and he was inspired to write a story about it. Mac sent the story to Jon and he enjoyed the story, so they decided to work together to turn it into a book.

Jon uses colored pencils to create many of his illustrations, but he also showed us how he could create his characters in Photoshop. He also showed us the importance of looking at a character's eyes- sometimes characters say one thing, but their eyes tell us another :)

Mac and Jon make a great team--they've won many awards for the stories they've written together including a Caldecott Honor Medal and the E.B. White Read-Aloud Award! The SMS Wolves had lots of questions for our guests, and everyone learned a lot about their books and the stories behind them. They were so inspiring (and hilarious!)

Ms. Riley worked with Water Street Bookstore to bring Jon and Mac to SMS. We cannot thank them enough for helping us make this incredible opportunity possible! We are so grateful for all they do for our community and for helping us bring so many amazing authors to our school. Jon and Mac left the Giraffe Class a few special messages, and we can't wait to see what they come up with next :)